psychodynamic approach

assumptions

• 1. unconscious mind

• 2. instincts drive our behaviour

• 3. early childhood

what is the components of the iceberg analogy?

1. the conscious mind

2. the pre-conscious mind

3. the unconscious mind

1.the conscious mind

• the part of the mind that we can access and that is visible to all

• thoughts are currently the focus of your attention

2.uncoscious mind

• ‘just below the surface’

• made up of the thoughts that could surface at any time into the conscious

• many memories reside here as they are accessible which come to the surface through dreams and Freudian slips

3.the unconscious mind

• vast storehouse of biological drives that have significant influence on our behaviour personality

• we cannot access these and bring them to out conscious

• may contain threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed to decrease anxiety

1. unconscious mind

• driing foce behind our behaviour

• if wew have problematic behaviour, we need to access the unconscious mind to sort it out

2. instincts drive our behaviour

• Eros (life instinct e.g. sex, eating)

• Thanatos (death instinct e.g. aggression and violence)

• Eros is stronger than Thanatos

3. early childhood

• experiences are pivotal in making us the person we are

what is the id?

• forms at 0-18 months

• instant gratification and biological drives

• follows the pleasure principle (you do things that produce pleasure or gratification)

ego

• forms at 18 months to 3 years

• conscious, rational mind

• maintains the balance between the id and the super-ego. If there is no balance, it can lead to mental issues

• reality principle (to accommodate demands of the environment)

super-ego

• 3-6 years

• sense of right or wrong (morality)

• feels guilt and holds someone back from behaving a certain way if its thought to be wrong

• helps you form a moral code

what are 3 example of and imbalanced psyche

1. neurotic

2. psychotic

3. psychopathic

1. nuerotic

• personality trait characterised by anxiety, fear, moodiness and envy

• super-ego is dominant

psychotic

• loss of contact with reality and displays unusual behaviour as well as difficulty with social interaction and struggle to carry out daily life activities

• id is dominant

psychopathic

• personality disorder characterised by antisocial behaviour

• callous, manipulative behaviour with no regard for others

• crime, sexual offending

• id is dominant

what are defence mechanisms?

Methods we use unconsciously to reduce anxiety. Anxiety reduced influence of the ego, which must be strong in order to mediate between the id and the superego

what are three example of defence mechanisms?

1. displacement

2. repression

3. denial

1. displacement

• discharging pent up feelings on objects less dangerous than those that initially aroused the emotion

• e.g. smashing a mug after getting into an argument

2. repression

• blocking a threatening memory from consciousness

• e.g. blocking out childhood abuse

3. denial

• refusing to admit something unpleasant is happening or that a taboo emotion is being experienced

• e.g. parents find out child is doing drugs but refuses to believe it

what is a fixation?

• when a child experiences severe problems or excessive pleasure at any stage of development

what is regression?

• adults experiencing stress regress back to the psychosexual stages they were fixated at as a child

how do fixations occur at each psychosexual stage?

• oral- if a baby was weaned to early or too late or feeding pattern was erratic

• anal- parents are over/underly enthusiastic about potty training

• phallic- don’t have same-sex parent to identify with

• latent- there is no real fixation

• genital- fixation of first three have an effect on adult life and personality

how are the oral fixations manifested?

oral receptive- trusting, gullible, over-dependant. May suck thumb

oral aggressive- aggressive, domineering, may chew pencils or bite nails or smoke

how are the anal fixations manifested?

anal retentive- obsessively tidy, can be stubborn and mean and don’t like to spend money

anal expulsive- very generous, untidy, likes to spend money, colourful and creative

how is the phallic fixation manifested?

vain and impulsive, unreliable, jealous and anxious. if men don’t have a male role model. they are likely to grow up homosexual

how is the genital fixation manifested?

no fixation and no effect. tend to be well adjusted and mature

3 ways of accessing the unconscious

1. hypnosis

2. dream analysis

3. free association

1. hypnosis

• mental state induced by a procedure known as hypnotic induction

• occurs naturally through within all animals and humans

• patient placed under trance. Therapist then investigates patients thoughts and desires

2. dream analysis

• during sleep, ego defences are lowered, so repressed materials come to the surface

3. free association

• psychodynamic therapy

• patient talks whatever come to their mind

• involves therapist reading a list of words and patient responds with first word that comes to mind

• may not work as client may show resistance

strengths of the approach

• highlights importance of childhood experiences in later life which has developed into therapies or the importance of surfacing repressed memories

• can be used to treat metal health issues e.g. therapy so therefore has good external validity

limitations

• theory is based on extensive research on individuals which is not possible to make universal claims about human behaviour and therefore cannot generalise behaviour

• did not meet scientific needs